Year Of Exploration: Freshman year 2017-2018
Autumn 2017
I still remembered the first day at UW: getting off a 13-hour-long airplane, taking a taxi to a place that I’m not familiar with, feeling scared for knowing nobody around the campus, working hard to settle everything down by myself… I hope I can “rest in peace” at the end of the day. However, time passed quickly, and it’s almost the end of the first quarter at UW. During this time, I have met so many amazing people around the campus, learned lots of resources that I can use, made life-long friends that can help me along the way, and now I can even walk around the campus with my eyes closed. Think back to the period, I never regret deciding to come to UW.
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At the beginning of the quarter, I have set my goals for myself: I wish I can learn more things that are not only related to my major but also broaden my horizons to the world we are living in. I wish to challenge myself by taking honors(advanced) courses and saying “yes” to the upcoming opportunities. This goal has not changed, but there are things I wish to achieve: I want to get into the major of computer science, although it is a highly competitive major because this is what I’m passionate about. I found myself not confident enough to talk in front of the public; To overcome that, I want to step out of my comfort zone and take more leadership roles in my community. I believe that these will shape me into the person that I want to be.
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At UW, I also encountered some setbacks I didn’t expect. Since college is a lot harder than high school, we have to change our ways of studying. I didn’t realize that until I found myself in trouble with physics. At the beginning of the quarter, I felt easy to handle physics since I already learned them in high school. However, when things get deeper and deeper, I realized that understanding formulas is not just enough. We have to know the logic behind the formulas and apply them in real life. I didn’t expect that until I got my midterms back with the lowest score I have ever had. To overcome that, I decide to go to the physics study center to figure out things I don’t understand and reading textbooks, doing reviews/previews for the things we learned. By the time of final time, I hope I will be ready to handle everything.
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In Honors 100, I learned more about the honors program, but what attracts me is experiential learning. Some people may take these as burdens, but I will take those as opportunities to challenge myself and make my college life more colorful than others. I want to be a CSE TA to practice my knowledge I learned and practice leadership roles. I would like to investigate further the requirement of being a CSE TA and the teaching techniques I can use in the class. I also want to participate in a study abroad program, although I’m already in a “study-abroad” status. My experiences in the United States are lovely, and it makes me want to explore more about the world and different cultures. I would like to investigate the requirement of studying abroad as an international student and the places I can go for “adventure.” These will be great experiences I wish to have in my college life.
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By the end of the freshman year in honors, I hope I will be ready to apply for the CSE major and knowing all the resources I can use around the campus. By the end of my time at UW, I hope I will be a person who mastered outstanding leadership, communication, and group work skills.
I volunteered myself as a move-in Dawgs Crew in Terry Hall at the beginning of the quarter. It was a fun experience to help others and make friends with them. I enjoyed the looking they have when they heard that I'm still a freshman. From this experience I learned that service can also be enjoyable especially when you heard the word "thanks" with smiling faces.
This is an assignment from CSE 142 that I really enjoyed. We are asked to draw things on Java, and I finally figured out the way to draw this hamtaro. It takes me more than 3 hours to finish it. Although it might not be hard for advanced CSE students, I find myself doing these assignments like doing my "hobbies" and really enjoyed them.
This is the lowest score I have ever received in physics. It is a warning that told me that just understanding the formula is not enough. After this midterm I started to go to the physics study center to figure out the problems I don't understand, read text books and do previews/reviews for things we learned everyday.
Winter 2018
Another Quarter had passed. It was so fast like a moment. I still remember the first week of the quarter: setting my class schedule as my phone's background, using my google maps a lot to find the hall for classes, making friends in the new courses, and so on. But the quarter is already over, and I'm here right now doing my reflection. I have lots of memories this quarter: Happiness while having fun with my friends, ambition while doing lots of practice exams, sadness when the new midterm grade is published, and frustration about my career in the future.
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Last quarter, I set my goals for myself: to board my horizon about the world, challenge myself by taking advanced classes, and say yes to the upcoming opportunities. Those goals had never changed. I took classes that my major does not require, challenged myself by accepting new concepts that I never heard of. I went to the career center a lot to attend workshops, learn lots of things about finding an internship, and make a resume and master interview techniques. Although I didn't find an internship this year, I gained valuable experiences about the resources and strategies I can use for finding an internship so that I can be better prepared for the future. Besides internships, I also applied to a few study abroad programs. Luckily, I was accepted by an engineering program in Japan. I'm so excited about the trip, and I'm planning to get a Visa and study Japanese by myself during spring break.
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As a freshman, I don't have a major, but my intended major is computer science. I have heard that the grades of CSE 143 are critical in considering applicants, so I spent lots of time on that course to practice my skills. Unlike CSE 142, 143 is more about data structures and efficiency. Understanding is the key to success. Although I spent the entire five days reviewing and done more than ten practice midterms, I still failed my midterm. During that time, I asked myself: do I still want to pursue my career in computer science? Am I that type of person who can talk to computers? I was frustrated by the grade, anxious about my future, annoyed that hard work doesn't pay me well. It turned out that my roommate is the one who pulled me out. The computer science department accepted him, and we had a long conversation about my grade, my plan, and my future. I felt a lot better after talking. He told me it's not over yet, and I still have a shot -- final. I worked so hard during the final week, stayed in the library with my friend all day long, and eventually, I got a grade that is way better than what I expected. Right now, I just felt like whether or not the department of computer science will accept me, I tried my best, and there is no regret in CSE 143.
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Next quarter I am taking 18 credits again, I know that will not be easy, but I will try my best. At the end of next quarter, I will start my application process for computer science. I don't know what will happen, but I will keep pursuing my goal. By the end of my freshman year, I hope I will be the one who already has a clear goal in his mind, strong enough to resist failure in life and be a person who is willing to challenge himself and prepared for the next three years of hardships.
The CSE 143 grade I mentioned before. Wasn't doing so great on my midterm, felt frustrated, worked hard on my final, and got I grade that's way better than what I expected
A picture that's taken in the Honors sessions in CSE 143. Stuart was doing card magic and asked us to crack the magic. He said anyone who figured it out will be a great computer scientist in the future. It encouraged us a lot but no one knows why. At the end, it turns out that it's just a brutal way to search for every possibility just like what computers would do.
A picture that's taken during the spring break. I have heard that Cherry Blossom is really beautiful in UW but I never saw that before. Luckily to see that during the sunny spring break.
Spring 2018
Suddenly, it's a year. It is nearly the end of my freshman year, and by the end of this week, I will be done with school and go back to China. Taking 18 credits this quarter had given me so much fun. It is common for me to spend all two days of my weekend studying in the ODE or staying somewhere quiet near the campus finishing my homework. I have made friends with someone I was not familiar with before, and I have learned a lot about things that I never heard of. Through the honors course, I have learned how to heal the wounds of war. Through the English course, I gained a deeper understanding of composition. Through the math courses, I have learned calculus in physics and calculus in three-dimensional. It is challenging, but it is also satisfying seeing myself successfully passed those courses.
Every time I wrote a reflection, I checked the previous reflections and saw what I expected myself to do before the quarter started. My goal is not changing, and actually, I'm getting one step closer to the plan I have set for myself. This quarter, while taking eighteen credits, I started to get my hands on the study abroad programs that I will do this summer. I applied for the Visas, getting all my documentation done, planned my traveling, and now I am ready for the trip. I'm also applying the experiential learning and additional ad-hoc programs to fulfill my honors program requirement. Besides the study abroad programs, I plan to find a research opportunity or an internship next year to practice the knowledge I have learned this year. It might not be easy to find an internship as a freshman or a sophomore, but that's the point of challenging myself and pushing myself out of the comfort zone.
Although I don't have a major so far, I have attended information sessions for my desired majors, and I will start my application this summer. My intended major is computer science, ACMS, or informatics. If none of the majors accepted me by next year, I would start to get my hands on transferring to another school. But before that, I am still going to try my best to get into the major I wanted, so later, I can tell myself that I have tried my best there is no regret for what I have missed.
"By the end of the freshman year in honors, I hope I will be ready to apply for the CSE major and knowing all the resources I can use around the campus." That was the goal I have set for myself in the first quarter of my freshman year, and I think I have achieved the goal I have set for myself at the beginning of my college years. So, right now, I want to extend beyond that goal. By the end of my sophomore year, I hope I will already be in a major and find a research program or an internship to do next summer. So when I graduate, there is something I can write about myself on my resume.
The picture was taken at the Seattle Art Museum. We went there on a field trip from English class as we are discussion the part that was forgotten in the history and the progress of the human rights movement.
This is a picture taken at the office hour of my Math 307 class. It was originally taken for notes but I kept this picture because of my TA's face... Anyway, Math 307 is challenging because we are going over things really fast, but it's understandable. It's also fun to see how calculus is related to everything in our lives
There is a portfolio I made for English 131. It explained what I learned in that class and how the use of outcomes in composition benefits me as a writer.